Obituary: Wayne Tisdall

Wayne Tisdall remained active in local body politics until the end.

Wayne Tisdall, local body executive. Died aged 67.

Wayne Tisdall, the first general manager of the North Shore City Council, was more familiar with local body amalgamations than some who now talk of it as a simple answer to Auckland's problems.

Tisdall did not oppose such things. But he was well aware of the complexities and difficulties of amalgamating local councils, some of whom wanted no part in it.

And he remained in touch with the complexities of the North Shore scene in a rapidly growing Auckland almost up to the end. As chairman of the Takapuna Community Board last year, for example, he found that plans for networks of cycleways in Takapuna unexpectedly struck stiff, well-argued resistance from some residents who refused to give up parking spaces outside their homes to a few cyclists.

He first experienced local body amalgamation in 1975 as county clerk of the Waitomo County Council. In one of the then Labour Government's first wave of local body amalgamations Waitomo joined with the Te Kuiti Borough Council to become Waitomo District Council. And as its first chief executive he became familiar with the downsides. In that amalgamation many staff lost their jobs after the retrenchment of resources.

The North Shore amalgamations in 1989 came after Wayne Tisdall had been the Takapuna City Council manager for 10 years. On becoming the first general manager of North Shore City in May 1989 his task was to oversee the merger of five councils and the North Shore Drainage Board.

His cryptic comment at the time was that "bringing together the authorities is a real challenge", which was no understatement, for the Devonport, Birkenhead and Northcote councils were all for separatism.

At one stage the Devonport council refused to attend transition committee meetings and regarded being joined with the Takapuna body as a threat to its character, to be resisted to the last colonial villa.

Wayne Tisdall's view however was simply that Devonport's resistance and the Northcote and Birkenhead councils' plea to form a second city were not a consideration.

He said: "The Government has made the decision. The job now is to manage that change."

Wayne Tisdall, who resigned towards the end of 1990 because of poor health, oversaw the amalgamations when the North Shore had a population of about 147,500 and the proposals involved reducing the number of elected councillors in the area from 65 to 16. The body he helped mould now plans for over 212,000 people in one of the most densely populated cities in the country, one in which very little countryside remains.

Tisdall, whom North Shore mayor George Wood described this week as "a true gentleman who could see all sides of an issue", was a Takapuna ward city councillor for three years from 1995.

He also served on the Takapuna Community Board from 1995-98 and from 2001 until almost his death after a battle with a brain tumour. He is survived by his wife, Noelene, a daughter and grandchildren.